Department of Agricultural Land Use and Protection of Soil from Erosion

In year 1947, a laboratory of land management and crop rotations, the first assistant of which became V.О.Pastushenko (1907-1999). During this period, the student studied mostly principles of antierosion organization of territories and basics of construction of soil protecting crop rotations. Starting from 1956, a laboratory for combat soil erosion separated (Head – Professor O.S.Skorodumov (1902-1982). The scientists conducted laboratory studies to clarify the nature of erosion processes and developing scientific bases for protection of soil from erosion.

An important contribution to the theory and practice of soil erosion control, the laboratory made when it was headed by O.H.Tarariko – doctor of agricultural sciences, professor, academician of NAAS. In the 80s, the scientists of the laboratory developed and implemented reclamation of soil contour farming system for conditions of complex terrain of forest-steppe, which was awarded with a National Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology in 1991. The main provisions of contour reclamation farming systems (CRFS) taken as a basic development of agriculture in 2015. In 2004, on the basis of laboratory soil protection from erosion a department of agricultural land use and soil protection from erosion was incorporated. Nowadays, the department is headed by candidate of agricultural sciences I.P.Shevchenko.

The main direction of activity of the department is a development and improvement of methodological and practical conditions of soil protecting adaptive and landscape systems of farming, set of measures for streamlining land ownership, land use, optimize the structure of agricultural lands, processing areas of rural land management system in modern conditions the transformation of land relations and rational use and protection of agricultural land in agricultural landscapes. The Department coordinates the research work on the said issues in the areas of forest steppe, Polissia, Subcarpathia and mountain area of the Carpathians.

The researches of department of agricultural land use and soil protection from erosion aimed at deepening of general studies on the establishment and development patterns of water-erosion on the level of erosion geosystems – natural territorial complex and development of practical measures to protect agricultural land from degradation processes, including the development of effective erosion hazard assessment system, improve methods of monitoring erosion-accumulative processes in agricultural landscapes slope and developing environmentally safe ways of environmental and cost-efficient land use and protection in agricultural landscapes. Department scientists analyzed the current state of conservation measures on eroded land, recommended uses of seized from intensive cultivation eroded (eroded) grants. Revised regulations (National Standards of Ukraine) for monitoring over eroded land, ways of protecting the land from erosion, standardized methods for determining run-off soil from water erosion.

Currently the Department continues researches in the following directions:

– Improving the scientific and methodological foundations of environmentally sound land use, optimize economic, social and environmental components of land use;

– The formation of new scientific principles of land use on the basis of sustainable development;

– Justification of priority measures for the protection and restoration of productive capacity of agricultural land;

– Study of modern scientific and methodological foundations of rural development by improving the system of land-use planning area rural communities;

– Deepening the theoretical foundations of land management in Ukraine;

– Improvement of the legal framework of agricultural land use and land management.

Deepening researching and methodical basics of ration use and protection of lands in erosion-dangerous agrarian landscapes:

– Development and implementation of soil adaptive-landscape system of agriculture;

– Improvement (adjustment) of zonal guidelines for the protection of soil from erosion in terms of transformation of land relations;

– Deepening theoretical and methodological foundations of the studying agrarian and landscape systems in small river basins;

– Studying and analysis of ecological and geochemical condition of rural residential landscapes;

– Elaboration of the legal framework in the field of soil from erosion.

The Department of Agricultural Land Use and Erosion of Soil Prevention provides the following services:

– Providing scientific consulting on the composition and content of the original information for the development of land management projects with ecological and economic assessment of crop rotation, ordering land and land protection measures;

– Consulting on the optimization of land use to create attractive investment agricultural enterprises;

– Consulting on application of characteristics of erosion farming practices in modern conditions for the introduction of new agricultural technologies.

The department also provides services in the area of ​​land under license National Land Agency of Ukraine, AH number 579015 “Work in Land Management”, 08.09.2011, including:

– Development of land management projects that provide ecological and economic assessment of crop rotation and streamline land;

– Development of working projects for land reclamation, landing unproductive soils, protecting the land from erosion, flooding, waterlogging, salinization, drying, landslides, compaction, acidification, pollution and other industrial waste, radioactive and chemical substances, improvement of agricultural land, increasing soil fertility (hereinafter – the working projects of land management);

– Conducting soil, geobotanical and other surveys of land in land management;

– Quality assessment of soil;

– Conclusions on the quality of soil characteristics of land;

– Calculation of the losses of agricultural production caused by the withdrawal of agricultural land (arable land, perennial plants, hayfields, pastures) to use them for purposes unrelated to agriculture.